A review by ellelainey
Tied to You, Vol. 1 by WHAT, Chelliace

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

  ** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE ** 
 Copy received through Netgalley 

 ~ 

 Tied To You, Vol. 1, by WHAT, Chelliace 

★★★★★ 
 272 Pages 
 Themes: forced proximity, fated mates, best friend's brother, unrequited love, love triangle 

 Tied to You is an adorable college-age romance. Weaving together themes of unrequited love, friendship and fated mates, it spins a new take on the red thread of fate. 

 In this world, it's commonly known that a red thread connects two fated hearts together. Most believe it's only an urban legend, but everyone knows about it. The red thread connects two people and they're unable to sleep or function without one another, once they discover the thread after they turn 20. All it takes is a single touch to know and they can see the thread between them. 

 Wooseo is in love with his best friend, Jiseok, but knows that Jiseok is straight and they've been friends for so long that they can't be connected by the red thread. But when he bumps into Jiseok's older brother one day, Jigeon, and the red thread appears between Wooseo and Jigeon, things begin to unravel. 

 Wooseo is a heart-on-his-sleeve type of person, but he's been holding back a lot to hide his feelings from Jiseok. Conversely, Jigeon has been shutting his emotions away for so long – with absent parents, he's had to grow up fast and be the parental figure to two siblings – that it's second nature. Until the red thread starts to force their hand. 

 I loved that the red thread connection didn't make everything perfect for this couple, but actually made it more complicated and forced them to face things they'd been avoiding. I also loved that it wasn't in any way sexual; they just had to sleep beside each other, which was a really cute and sweet twist. 

 There was a lot of story packed into this one volume, which was awesome! I love a long volume, especially when we got to see flashbacks from each main character, explaining their past relationship with each other and how that's affected the present day. At first I really loved Wooseo and Jiseok's friendship, but the cracks soon began to appear and feel more like Wooseo was being used by his friend, even though it may have been unintentional. 

 Sometimes, manga stories move fast and I've grown used to that, but this one took a nice length of time to explore the characters and their complex relationships before progressing. I loved the pacing, the artwork and the hints of what might happen in volume two. 

 I am absolutely in love with the recent influx of YA BL manga on the market lately, and this is another great story. I've already added it to my cart, to get the paperbacks on my shelf!